1993 Mumbai serial blasts: TADA court is set to pronounce its judgment

A Special Terrorism and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court is set to pronounce its judgment against gangsters Mustafa Dossa and Abu Salem along with five others in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case today. The earlier set of judgment did not include the present under trials as some of the accused were absconding when the trial case began.

These undertrials, including Mustafa Dossa, Abu Salem, Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, Taher Merchant, Riyaz Siddiqui and Abdul Qayyum, are being tried separately by the court. The under trials, who were arrested between 2003 and 2010, are facing multiple charges which include criminal conspiracy, waging war against the Government of India and murder.

257 people died while 713 others were injured after a series of bomb blasts rocked Mumbai City on March 12, 1993. The dastardly attacks had destroyed properties worth Rs 27 crore. Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim along with Tiger Memon and his brother Yakub Memon were alleged to be the prime conspirators in the case.

In the first leg of the trial that concluded in 2007, the TADA court had convicted 100 accused in the case, while 23 people were acquitted.

The trial of the seven accused were separated from the main case as they were arrested at the time of conclusion of the main trial. Salem was accused of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai.

He also handed over to actor Sanjay Dutt, who was an accused in the case for illegally possessing weapons, AK 56 rifles, 250 bullets and some hand grenades at his residence on 16 January, 1993. Two days later, on 18 January, 1993, Salem and two others went to Dutt`s house and got back two rifles and some rounds.

The court had dropped certain charges against Salem in 2013 after the investigating agency, CBI, moved a plea, saying those charges were against the extradition treaty between India and Portugal. Mustafa Dossa allegedly masterminded the landing of explosives including RDX in India and sent some youth to Pakistan to acquire arms training.

The court, in all, recorded statements of around 750 prosecution witnesses and 50 witnesses. Three accused including Salem had confessed to their crime during investigations carried out by the CBI over the years into the blasts case.